The present invention relates to a safety device for a locking and opening system making it possible to tightly connect two enclosures, each of which is equipped with a flange and a door defining an opening of the same diameter and making it possible to form a connection between these two enclosures by simultaneously opening the juxtaposed, interlocked doors.
Such a locking and opening system is more particularly used when one of the enclosures forms a cell for handling dangerous products, such as radioactive or biologically toxic products, whilst the other is a tight container enabling these products to be transferred.
More specifically the present invention relates to a safety device for a locking and opening system comprising a locking ring associated with the flange of a first enclosure and which rotates between an inoperative position in the absence of a second enclosure and a position for locking the second enclosure on the first enclosure, and an operating lever associated with the flange of the first enclosure and moving between a locking position and an unlocking position with respect to the door of the first enclosure.
The safety device according to the invention prevents personnel using the locking and opening system from committing the following manipulating and handling errors:
opening the door of the first enclosure without the second enclosure being in place, PA1 disconnection of the two enclosures with the connecting doors open, PA1 opening the doors of the two enclosures without the locking of the second enclosure to the first enclosure being complete.
Safety devices for locking systems of a comparable type have already been studied. However, these known devices are generally entirely mechanical and are relatively complex, which significantly increases the price of the locking system. Moreover, these known devices virtually never offer a total security and can be easily rendered inoperative by a concerted act of malevolence. Finally, due to their entirely mechanical construction, the known safety devices cannot be fitted to an existing locking system without the latter undergoing signficant modifications.